Professor Michelle Norris:

No it should not be. It is not kept centrally by the Department. Dr. Norton consulted very widely with planners in local government for the report, and they identified this as an issue, which is why it is in the report.

Now that the Office of the Planning Regulator, OPR has been established, we believe it has the capacity to play quite an important role in improving the delivery of Traveller accommodation. The problems we identify in the report of Traveller accommodation plans not lining up with what is in development plans and sites not being specified are issues which can be referred to the OPR and the office can go back to local authorities to insist they are addressed, which would improve matters. Where there is non-implementation of measures, the regulator also has the power to recommend to the Minister that enforce implementation, which he is legally empowered to do. That structure has been put in place and we believe it has quite a lot of potential.

Regarding secrecy around the acquisition of sites, the Deputy was previously a councillor, as he mentioned. I have no doubt from his experience he found that is an issue. The acquisition of sites was not an issue that was flagged with us but regarding the development of Traveller-specific accommodation where there has been non-delivery, we examined the potential for penalties, which is one of the issues the committee mentioned to us. We decided against that option on the grounds it would penalise other vulnerable communities with, for example, cuts to social housing budgets for non-delivery of Traveller accommodation, and what is the argument for that? Local authorities are also in large part self-funded through the property tax and there is less of an opportunity to penalise them. Responsibility for the roads budget has been transferred from the Department with responsibility for housing to another Ministry. Rather than penalties, the issue of incentives is one we discussed, although we did not include it in the report, but it would be worth examining. The Deputy mentioned gains for areas that have Traveller-specific accommodation, for example, the water and sewerage infrastructure being augmented, but there are arguments for putting in place improvements such as the provision of playgrounds, which would benefit Travellers getting the accommodation but would also achieve benefits for the local communities in those neighbourhoods. That is something that should be definitely explored.